Thereafter, the e-mail asks the recipient for entering personal info that allow online crooks to access account by gaining hold over his credit card details. With the information thus seized, cyber-criminals then steal small sums out of the victim's credit card account over a several-week span so they can't be traced.

Many other gamers too have lost their precious cash following cyber-criminals befriending them and tricking them into divulging their passwords. The majority of users affected merely perceive the problem when they find that personal Internet gaming accounts are blocked.

In the meantime, media sources' details reveal that the phishing e-mail targeted numerous players and the cyber-crooks then acquired access to the victims' sensitive data. A few victims belong to the UK who lost a mean of 100 pounds, while a few lost more than 200 pounds.

Worryingly, media has reported losses within 35 countries around the world.

Remarking about this e-mail scam, a victim named Paul Thompson, aged 29, and belonging to Essex (East England) said that one required being aware of the above incident. Thesun.co.uk reported this in news on November 22, 2011.

Earlier on November 21, 2011 night, reports indicated that Microsoft was examining the problem, which could have resulted in the latest electronic mail fraud.

Meanwhile, security researchers remark that the real issue might be that a large number of unwary youngsters are getting deceived with the cyber-criminals' tricks that's a same kind of situation, which frequently impacts Facebook.

However, Microsoft has stated that in case anybody could prove that he didn't give away his password the company would compensate him the lost money.